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Lillie McCloud
'''Lillie Arlene Nicole Jade McCloud' (born December 7, 1958) is an American R&B/soul/disco singer from Rochester, New York who finished in 8th place on season 3 of The X Factor USA. She was a part of the over 25s catagory, mentored by Kelly Rowland.'' Background Before the show, Lillie had been working in music, releasing her first single, "Always and Forever", in 1985 under her mononym Nicole. Despite acheiving some international success, she admitted that she was struggling balancing both her career and wanting to be there for her kids because they were little at the time. Lillie's music career wasn't mentioned on the show until she talked about it with her mentor Kelly Rowland on '80s Night. Besides her music career, Lillie is a mother of 3(1 son and 2 daughters) and has 7 grandchildren and lives in Orlando, Florida with her fiance Terry. The X Factor Lillie auditioned in Long Island, New York where she wowed the judges and the audience with her rendition of the song "Alablaster Box" by CeCe Winans. She got four yeses and made it to the next round where she made the top 40 and got Kelly Rowland as her mentor. Four Chair Challenge In this part of the competition, Lillie took on the 1964 Dionne Warwick classic "A House Is Not A Home". After receving praise from her mentor and the other judges, Lillie advanced to the next round. However, Kelly Rowland's decision to have Lillie advance instead of Lorie Moore caused anger amongst those in the crowd. Live shows For the first live show, Lillie took on the Percy Sledge classic "When A Man Loves A Woman". While the other three judges, including Lillie's mentor Kelly Rowland, loved her performance and didn't have a problem with it, Simon Cowell warned Lillie that she needed to lose the theatrics because, according to him, it was beginning to make her sound "dated". Despite that, Lillie made it to the top 12. For Motown Night, Lillie took on the Stevie Wonder song "All in Love is Fair". Kelly Rowland loved the performance and tried to get Simon Cowell to take back what he had said the week before about Lillie sounding dated. Even though he didn't quite do that, he did praise Lillie for her performance, which earned him a kiss from Kelly. However, due to a graphics error that nullified the votes, Lillie had to sing another song in the re-vote show. The song was "Who Wants to Live Forever" by Queen. For '80s Night, Lillie sang the Chaka Khan hit "Ain't Nobody". The judges enjoyed the performance, but Demi Lovato did point out that Lillie looked uncomforable moving around onstage. For British Invasion night, Lillie sang the Kate Bush song "A Woman's Work", a song Lillie admitted to having never heard before. Despite that, Lillie put her heart and soul into the song, which earned her praise from the judges. For Big Band night, Lillie took on "Summertime" from the film Porgy and Bess, dedicating it to her fiance Terry. She gave it her all on the song, which had been famously covered by Fantasia Barrino on season 3 of American Idol in 2004. The performance earned Lillie a standing ovation from her mentor Kelly Rowland as well as Demi Lovato and Paulina Rubio. Simon Cowell, however, felt that Lillie was too contained in her performance, something she had no problem letting him know that she disagreed with. She then went up against the other 7 acts in a face-off. On November 28, 2013 (Thanksgiving Day), she was eliminated, finishing in 8th place. Post X Factor On May 11, 2014, Lillie signed a deal with Monarchy Records, a division of The Spectra Music Group. Her first single with her new label, "What About the Beautiful Children", was released on May 20, 2014 with an album expected to come out later in the year. Her album, Red Apples, ''was released on May 27, 2015, Discography '''Albums:' * What About Me? ''(1986) * ''Jam Packed ''(1988) * ''Rock The House (U.S. re-release of Jam Packed) (1989) * Love Town ''(1998) * ''So What? ''(2002) * ''Red Apples (2015) Trivia * Her celebrity crush is the late Michael Jackson * She admits that she likes home redecorating. * At age 54, Lillie was season 3's oldest contestant. Gallery 15-Top13-BW-portraits-480x270 retina.jpg 1395764_567469439991348_396441222_n.jpg e681d8bfe11b892af93d7cca412bbfa2.jpg LillieMcCloud_blackandwhite_shawl.jpg xFactor_69-Lillie-blue_2883.rc_.jpg xf03_ep12_perf_lillie_mccloud_960x540_59134019945.jpg Category:Over 25s Category:Female Contestants Category:Season Three Category:Season Three Acts Category:The X Factor USA Category:Acts Category:Mentored by Kelly Rowland